


Jumpgates and Diamonds

by Skepsis_Forever



Series: Greed of Warhammer [3]
Category: Freelancer, Warhammer 40000
Genre: Alternate Universe - First Contact, Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Chaos corruption, Cultural Differences, Deal With the Devil, Empire Building, Fix-It of Sorts, Manipulation, Minecraft, Near Death, No Morals, Original Character-centric, Slow Build, Slow Pace, Slow Paced, Some Swearing, Space Magic, Space Pirates, amoral, economic conquest, ressurection, slow pacing, slow path, subtlety, the long way, the slow path, world building
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-08
Updated: 2014-08-20
Packaged: 2018-02-12 08:40:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2102835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skepsis_Forever/pseuds/Skepsis_Forever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tim Gem, the God of Greed from Warhammer is building an Empire in the multiverse, one planet at a time. He likes his slow pace, for he learned that just opening warp rifts in space-time and controlling a world, its inhabitants or what is unleashed are completely different matters. Besides, opening a warp rift would let his mad brothers spoil his fun, so why not go the long way?<br/>Slow paced, world building - mostly literally.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was pathetically easy to simply infiltrate Planet Manhattan. Well, infiltrate was a particular strong definition of the term. He had just strolled in from a transport ship, in which he miraculously appeared and nobody asked him why he was there or where he was going. The story he had concocted was a simple and as unverifiable as it was believable: a newly minted business man from the Borderlands who found some money coming to start shop in the New York System. Nobody questioned him more than that, apparently Liberty was all about free enterprise. Since his name, Timothy Gem, had not rang any bells and he wasn't on scan (not uncommon for borderlands), he simply strolled off the ship on Manhattan. He had made an account with unlimited funds, untraceable and unhackable - those hackers that he had heard would "square" away some reputation were not even close to his league. He had more than one Empire, but why stop there? As many in as many universes was all the better. And it gave him something to do. And build.  
Speaking of which, Manhattan was a planet composed greatly of water, much like old Earth they had come from. That's how they shipped water and oxygen from here - how that worked, or why they didn't just filter it out of space itself was beyond him. He went into an empty alleyway and willed himself to appear on the farthest edge of the continent. He could have done so from the beginning, but he thought he should have a cover and to pretend to be honest with the authorities. Besides, in the Borderlands, an outpost going missing was not really news. He could claim all who knew him were dead, and again, it would not raise any flags. No, what he did from now on mattered.  
At first he thought of starting in the slums of Manhattan - every world had its slums, as much as it tried to hide it or pretend it didn't exist. But then a better idea came to him. The Japanese did it in some worlds, didn't they? Made artificial islands in the ocean. He could do that too. Well, expand the land into the ocean, but that worked too.  
So here he was, in a harbor, overlooking an apparently untamed and unclaimed rocky cliff. Yes, that would do. Careful not to be seen by anyone, he willed himself to the mayor's office. After convincing his secretary he was programmed, and asking for a name and a price for the cliffs, he was told it was called Widows' Peak and unclaimed. Ah, how charming and original. Truth be told, widows apparently did use that peak to look for their husbands lost at sea. Though they had by now space flight, naval ships were not as out of commission as they should. The whole place was anachronistic in Gem's view, though no more than the Imperium or Chaos worlds. The little known fact was that there were people searching for gold, or fauna and flora to export off-world. Liberty was the place of all trade. Where did one imagine Luxury Goods came from? Some of them had simply been minerals or animals at the bottom of Manhattan's oceans before they were picked up by daring entrepreneurs.  
With his claim registered, and payed by through his electronic account, he simply made his way on foot towards the peak, climbed it easily up and started his work.  
He wasn't wearing anything special or looking like anyone special for that matter. The only distinguishing features were his long, straight black hair and jade-green eyes. He wore his black leather long-coat, covering his also black attire. If anyone ever heard of it, he could have been noted to resemble a The Matrix character in clothing.  
So he took out his cube from his long coat and started working. He first made a rectangular 3x3x3 meters room around himself, right on top the peak, sometimes ignoring the gravity that should have toppled into the ocean. He could have started from the air itself or from underground, but that would have appeared suspicious. Well, even more suspicious than what he was going at the moment. Once the air-tight building was completed, he gave a command, and all the air was removed from the new room, then the mirror-walls around it absorbed the air on the outside, filling the room with pure oxygen. Not that he needed to breath it, of course, but he was planning ahead after all. He had decided to go with the mirror-walls concept instead of the rockrete concept since he figured a building made in the form of a skyscraper, even if on a rocky cliff's peak, would appear more normal than one made completely out of gray stone.  
He then made one more room on each side of it, each a 3x3x3. It was a concept he had used to. Such a room would house an average Imperial worker and make him happy he had that much all to himself. He knew the locals would not be satisfied with so little, but one problem at a time.  
Soon, he had made a larger cube of rooms, each a room of 3x3x3 meters, and now surrounding him were 3x3x3 rooms, the bottom ones digging into the rock. He then started making a stairway that would connect the above and below with tender care, first making the base structure out of rockrete, then covering with a fine layer of rust-colored pure iron, then put a layer of an energy field over it, so that those walking on it would never in fact touch that metal, but clean their footwear on the field while the metal would never rust.  
He looked out on the setting sun bathing his primordial realm in an orange glow. He had no fear of "camping it out" overnight, he had no need to sleep and no human or animal would breach what he had made. He looked down on the harbor, a while away, maybe half a mile or so, and in a downward slope. He wondered if he should continue with his building or a stairs towards the most populated harbour. His bought deed contained quite a lot, skirting the forest which he suspected belonged to someone else, surely more profitable than this barren piece of rock, or so they suspected. He looked towards the inn that drew sailors of the sea and stars alike and decided now was a good time to put an ad for some recruits. He could burrow in the cliff, breach into the beach below and make a straight roadway to them later. That would surprise them.  
With these thoughts, he headed to the inn.


	2. Chapter 2

Yes, in the year 2900+, there were still inns on planets of interplanetary powers that could build giant gates that could send someone from a solar system to another. But then, there was pollution. _In space. **Space smog**._ And all of these were absolutely sane in this universe. Like selling water and oxygen for profit.  
Gem sighed and entered the inn. It smelled like a medieval tavern, some of the costumers were covered in ale, drinking, laughing... some in space suits. He sighed again and went to the wall next to the exit, took out his cube, removed the ad from the cube and sticked it to the wall. He went to the same all and did the same.  
By this time, the bartender had been watching this strange, apparently money man do his thing, and had in principle no problem with it. In practice though, even if Liberty was the land of opportunity, that opportunity always had a price on it. No exception.  
So he went to the rich man, giving the signal to his bodyguard to follow.  
When he turned around to scan the room once more, he found himself face to face with the bartender, and a man half his size looming over him.  
"I'm Juan Sanchez and I own this place." Said the bartender without preamble.  
"Do you represent any faction by any chance?" Asked Gem undisturbed.  
"I represent my self here, buddy. And first rule of this place is that there's some gain for you in here, I get a cut. Got it?"  
He looked at the posters on the wall and then back at Gem. "So if you want those clipboards to stay, you'll have to pay me?"  
"How much?" Asked Gem, without missing a beat.  
Juan was taken aback. He'd expected this guy to start a fight, bring some goons maybe. He risked a little, but it was the principle of the thing. Now that he was asked...  
"100 credits." He said straight-faced. If this guy was from money, he'd pay. If not, maybe he'd bargain him down. Truth be told, this was worth max 10 credits if the man just came to him, but his trip from the bar cost extra.  
"Deal." Said Gem non-plussed. "You have a vending machine around here?"  
Trying to keep composed, Juan took him to the local machine where the man dutifully gave him the cash.  
"Buddy, for 100 credits, I'll distribute your fine paper myself to my costumers all night."  
Gem nodded and gave him a stack of large flyers, more like post-its. In some sense they may have been worth more than their content, but a deal was a deal. He'd distribute them and not sell them. His reputation was on the line the second he made that deal in public.  
Juan watched Gem walk away, then turned his attention on the poster.  


 

  
**_Hiring_ **   
_500 credits/month_   
_Room, no board so far, you have to buy your own food_   
_No qualifications needed_   
_Contact: Building on cliff top_   
_Might be more visible in a few more days_   
_Gem Incorporated_

  
"Well, that was strange." Mused Juan to himself, but distributed the flyers to anyone interested all night and the next few days.  
Meanwhile Gem had returned and was furnishing the room. Although there was no electricity and plumbing, he didn't think it was needed for now. He made stone beds in six rooms - he figured there'd be no more so far that'd need to sleep in his buildings - and then used the cube to open a portal to a place that had sheets and mattresses. This was not the best idea however, even as he pulled them out, he almost lost connection and almost made a portal cut on some sheets.  
"Damn, I need to make a portal room soon." Ripping things through time-space with the help of the warp and some other knowledge was all nice and good, but it wasn't stable. Without the cube, he'd just be grabbing through the veil blindly, hoping what he grabbed was a silk rope and not the tail of some dinosaur from some unknown world. A portal room would bring much more stability, but would also require components, and more importantly time to build it. At least he had prepared for his incoming guests as best he could.  
By the next morning, the building was 5x5x5. It had taken way too long in his opinion, especially the stairs, not to mention the time he had taken to build those beds and summon those sheets. He was once again reminded of the rapidity he had built on Mars, and how on any other world it just worked slower for some reason.  
He heard a knock on the new installed metal door at the entrance that he had made where the road from below that converged with the one from the forest stopped. He opened it and was greated with a giant of a man, one the size of the bartender's bodyguard. On the wall he had plastered a sign with his company's logo, two jade gems arranged as all-seeing eyes peering in the soul of the onlooker.  
"Can I help you?" He asked, no sign of fatigue from working all night on his face.  
" 'bout the job. Is it still on?" The burly man asked.  
"Yes, you're actually my first costumer, mister..."  
"Bear. Folk 'round here call me Bear." Figures, thought Gem. "What's the job?"  
Gem rummaged through his coat and handed the man a cube. He looked at it, then took it in his hands like cradling a babe or an antique vase, fearing it would break.  
"You're not going to make me pay reparations if I's breaks it, will ya?" He asked suspiciously.  
Gem simply laughed at that. "Trust me, big guy, that thing can definitely stand forces greater than you can."  
Bear looked tentatively at the cube, then barreled his fist around it, and squeezed harder and harder. To his surprise, the little thing (for it was around 3x3x3 centimeters, small compared to his large hand) didn't give way, didn't creak, didn't do anything. Bear had broken bones with that grip, yet the little cube didn't seem to even try to fight him. Something was wrong with this, with all of this, but credits were credits.  
"Whadda I gotta do with it? I'm not much of a tekkhead."  
Gem beckoned him inside, closed the door, and for the first time the big man noticed that he could see outside, but from outside, he couldn't see inside until now. Clever. Gem pointed to the place the door ended and so did the floor.  
"Make some floor down there. Don't worry, it's not complicated. All you have to do it think it. Tell it. Tell the cube in your mind that you want it to make a rockrete road in front of you.  
The man looked skeptical, thinking he was made fun of, but this was his future boss if this was for real. So he pointed the cube and did as the man asked, and started to understand, just a little, the cube's "language". Though he didn't know what rockrete was, the cube apparently did and slowly but surely, a small sheet of gray rock was covering the dirt road, that old dirt road he had followed since he was a kid. He suspected this guy would build around the cliff, but even with such a small example, he hadn't thought before that he had the power or the tech or whatever to literally build concrete out of apparently thin air over and around whatever he wanted.  
He tentatively built the road, but it bumped upwards as it covered the dirt road, then lowered then stabilized at the level of his own feet. He looked surprised but also glad that he could get the hang of this. Looks like the guy wasn't taking him for a fool after all. He sadly scrapped the idea of accidentally tripping his new boss if he ever got the chance. He had a reputation to maintain after all.  
He looked at the man who smiled and nodded. "Good start. But now you have to level that thing. It's the same trick as putting stuff out, only this time you put stuff in. We'll have to remove everything from this cliff, one molecule at a time and rebuild it however I think it should, which I think should be simple for now. Luxury wasn't built in a day, and luxury on this rock... well a building would do first."  
Bear nodded and pointed the cube back at the road, slowly willing it to remove everything that'd be in the way of their construction. This rockrete disappeared quickly, but the dirt was harder. A connection was forming with the cube, which was telling him which molecule to put in what bracket inside itself. This was getting complicated, but he'd have to handle it. Before he started doing the job in earnest, he dismissed the connection and turned to Gem.  
"What are the employment conditions?"  
"Do you need a room?"  
"No."  
"Food I can't give you, but I can buy from you if you'll bring some to my tenants."  
Bear thought about it for a while and nodded.  
"Good, good. Now, 500 credits per month, as agreed, for 8 hours a day, or 1000 for 14 hours. That first is for people who still have stuff to do around the day and don't need my board - like you - and the second is for folk who want to get rich fast. Up to you, big guy."  
"8 hours. Still have stuff to do around the cottage."  
"Alright then, well let's get to work."


	3. Chapter 3

She came to the bar to drink her sorrows. Being a Liberty Rogue was a pain. She couldn't get out of the system except through outcast and xenos infested jumpholes - and those would as well shoot you as rob you as let you go on your way - she had no allies except her fellow Rogues who were as run down as she was. She hated this life on the run, but it was the only one she knew, the only one she could survive. She'd scrounged at one point to buy a Bloodhound and thought she'd make it big in smuggling. Haha. That implied the authorities would let you dock, which they wouldn't. Smuggling Cardamine had become thus out of the question. Somehow, she had managed to finally land on Manhattan without tripping their watchdogs, sell her Cardamine and stash her Bloodhound. But they'd spot her in the big cities without much problems - and Liberty Police didn't like rogues, they'd as much take them in a back alley and shoot them as simply sending them to Texas as forced labor. She'd never been there, but heard enough stories to know not to get caught, for either of the situations.  
So here she was, laying low, waiting until all the heat with that Trent and the Order and Alaska and whatever else the bigshots have been doing to die down and hoping she wouldn't need to burn through all her hard-earned credits until she was ready to get back in the sky. Which, if Jane was honest with herself, she was starting to get scared of doing. She'd seen too much death to think she'd end better, and she wasn't the hottest shot out there by a long shot.  
Through her thoughts, she noticed the bartander handing her a paper, which she carefully took.  
"What's this?" She asked.  
"Guy's hiring up on Widows' Peak. Payed me to get these to folk I'd think are interested in, so I'm doing that." With that, he returned to his business of cleaning glasses and keeping an eye on the costumers.  
She looked at the piece of paper, and decided it wouldn't hurt to read. No qualifications, huh? And the name sounded like a big-shot. Maybe he was gathering people to slaughter, that cliff sure looked creepy and isolated to her, but then again, she was desperate and armed. If he got handsy, she could always kill him and run away with whatever he'd have. It wouldn't be the first town in Manhattan she'd split from.  
Damn but that had been a long climb. The peak looked relatively close from the direct view of the inn, but the roundabout way on the dirt road had been much longer than it looked. She hoped that if this guy was settling a business here, he should at least make a paved road to his company's place.  
She looked dubiously at the construction. It stood 5 stories in the air, or at least they looked like stories, where the light reflecting mirrors were apparently cut by cement in places. It stretched about 9 of those same stories in either direction, the sun's light hurting her eyes. But then, she was the one that went to the bar for information and to kill some time in the morning. On the opposite part of the road and herself, the edge seemed to be floating in mid-air, as if the building had been embedded into the rock cliff itself. At the entrance there was a metal door, a grey dull color. She knocked.  
The man opening the door was about as tall as her, and she looked in his eyes. His hair was dark as night and long, up to the middle of his back, but it was those eyes that were so unnatural. When she'd seen the two jewels on the ad, she believe it to be a representation of the company's wealth, not of its owner's _friggin' eyes_. She wondered briefly if those were even natural before he woke her out of her reverie.  
"Yes?" He asked.  
"Um... the ad... you still hiring?" She stumbled over the words.  
"Yes, of course, come on in. Your colleague should be coming in soon, he didn't give me the exact time, he's kind of reclusive, but he said he'll come in the morning. He'll work exactly on schedule, don't worry about it, I have a time clock or something like that around here. Do come in please."  
She did, and she saw the door close behind her. Now that she was inside, the sun didn't bother her anymore, even if she could see outside... clearly, in fact. Clever, she thought to herself. She looked around and she was surprised both positively and negatively. While it looked like it was livable, maybe even comfy for an office - not that she even hoped to get such a cushy job - it also looked like the designer didn't have any social skills. Which was probably this Gem character standing in front of her. Everything about him screamed wrong. There was something weird about it when a girl living all her life on the streets and later in the open sky who had to do with what she could get would have such a feeling.  
For the apparently comfortable sofas and chairs lining up an obviously improvised hallway were made of stone. Most of them had decent covers, but didn't reach out all the way to the feet of the couches, which were evidently made of _stone_. The chairs also, having only small pillows so one did not stand directly on it. The couches also had what appeared to be _mattresses_ on them, with pillows on the entrance's end. The walls were also of stone, though she did not feel the chill she felt she should as she entered something similar to a cave. The lights above were on despite outside had been day. One thing she had to give him credit for, at least the chilling ocean breeze was not seeping through any corners into his creation.  
His direction stopped her in her tracks. In the middle of a building, in the _smack middle_ of it, there was a spiral staircase that led both up and _down_. The stairs were at least coated with metal, if not made of solid metal and looked brand new. Again, she was no expert, but if this was supposed to be art or anything else, it was failing miserably. She cursed whoever designed this place for the waste of such apparently good material in the middle of nowhere in an... original and weird form. In a practical way, it made sense, as one could use that stairs to go up and down the building, but still... nevermind it was a security risk, it was really weird.  
She moved these thoughts to the back of her head as she remembered this would be her future work environment, if he found her useful to the company at least. Still, she couldn't help ask.  
"This is the room you're offering for the night?" She said, looking towards the couches. She was being ironic, but for a moment she thought this place crazy enough for it to be true. Fortunately, he dispelled her fears with a light laugh.  
"No, no, these are for visitors, if any, though I'd suspect there'd be enough soon... no, my room is here," he looked towards a door marked 1 next to the stairway, "and the other one is yours if you need it." He looked towards the door, which was next to door #1, towards the dirt road. "I heard people like larger rooms, but my design makes the practical 3 by 3 by 3 meters for a single person, it works enough for those where I'm from... so I decided to give 4 rooms to each person. There's only one small problem... see..." he said sheepishly, "I haven't made doors from your room to the other three... heh... if you don't mind that being the case for a little while..."  
She wasn't even surprised at the absurdity of it all anymore, it just figured such a place would have such a... quirk.  
"Nah, it's ok, and yeah, I'd rather I get a room here than rent anywhere. What's the job?"  
"Well, there's what I call the menial job, which I'll show you in a moment, but since you have relations with the Rogues... Jane... maybe you can help me make some deals with them." How'd the weirdo know her name? Oh well, it didn't really matter.  
"What sort of details? Room and board and 500 credits a month can buy only so much." She said distrustful.  
"Oh, just moving things around my little neck of the woods. I know they have people everywhere, just like every other faction, ears open to everything and all. And I'm in the business of buying. Whatever they find, tell 'em best price it as my place. And it will be. I have the credits to buy whatever they're selling, and I'm going to expand this place. But why waste time, right?"  
"20 percent." She said.  
"Hmmmmmmm?"  
"20 percent of all they get."  
"That's a little much to buy your connections every time I buy something. Especially since I'm planning to buy in bulk."  
She huffed. "And where you're going to store 'em? Here? They move more stuff than the size of this whole cliff, and probably even more. You need my connections to move 'em to the mainland or the docking ring or wherever you want to do what you do with them. What's your rep with the Rogues anyway?"  
"Neutral. With everybody actually."  
"They won't trust a new face."  
"That may be, but I only need you to give them the offer. They've got those portable credit transfer things, right? As for moving them, I do assure you, there is enough place here, or will be soon. And speaking of which, that's the menial stuff I was talking about. You, me and Bear are going to build this place."  
"Right. I'd ask with what tools, but I figure since you built this much, you probably have them stashed somewhere around here."  
In response, he gave her a cube and instructed to do the same as Bear. Her attempt at a stone road was straighter, as the road was already curving downwards from their progress. She smiled to herself. Maybe she could build the damn road by herself. That smirk faltered. He probably wouldn't let her on her time. And there was no reason to do something for nothing, even for her feet. Even if she slept here, she'd still have to the port from time to time.  
"Well, don't continue the road that way for longer, we won't be expanding on the sides anymore, it's big enough as it is I figure." He then taught her how to remove matter from her way. It was much harder to empty the whole place than it was to fill it with ordered matter, but she got the hang of it.  
"How about this?" He finally breached the subject again. "100 credits for every successful deal, as long as I don't catch you telling them to meet more than once for what they already have. And 100 credits for every meet I have with any party that ends in a successful transfer of resources to my place. If you're lucky, you could make over a grand a month just from this."  
It was tempting, and the 20% was a risk. Who knew what this guy bought? She doubted he'd buy anything of 500 credits a trip, and anyway, he made it clear he wouldn't accept 20%, so that'd be even less.  
"You got yourself a deal, buddy... er..." She forgot she didn't know his name.  
"Gem. Tim Gem. Welcome aboard, Jane." He said with a light smile.

* * *

Everything was going well for him so far. He had moved the portal parts under his room and simply had to make a hatch between the two rooms. It was a little cramped, but he would expand it. He was ok with the progress he'd made so far and didn't feel about pushing it yet. He still had to learn more about this world, and in hindsight, starting this next to a naval port and not a space port may have been a bad idea, on the other hand it had been also a way to keep out of the spotlight until he had established himself. Now, there was not much else to do than to expand lower, make a road to the port and let Jane's relations bring him more materials. Once they started to establish trust, he'd use them as middlemen for what he truly wanted.


	4. Chapter 4

The experience for Jane was strange, but simple and somehow liberating. The priority had been set by Gem to make the stairways down all the way to port level, then make their way out through the solid rock and make a way from the beach - ignoring or covering any water encountered - to the port itself. It fit to her with his boisterous, asocial, but ultimately practical, functional works and actions. An hour or two later, they were joined by Bear, and she could see why he was named that way. He was a giant of a man, the quint-essential woodsman chopping trees with a larger than life axe, wrestling bears and building his own home with the downed trees and his own two hands. To see him wield the cube awkwardly like a grown man handling a small toy was surreal in itself. How could Gem just look at him and think "This guy needs a cube in his hand instead of a pick to dismantle this stone atom by atom" eluded her profoundly. Not that she discriminated on physical appearance, but this did not look like the kind of job the man was suited for. Still, it was obvious he was trying, and the three settled on a rhythm and long quiet, sometimes peaceful, sometimes strained in her opinion. They didn't seem to have anything to say to each other even as they were mere meters or centimeters from each other for hours. Gem would sometimes create stairs instead of "digging" or those light cylinders on the walls so they would continue to see outside the cube's green hue. Strangely enough, the atmosphere didn't heat excessively and they didn't need to breathe harder the deeper they went, even though they both had heard those to be the effects of "mining".  
After a while, she was getting hungry and though not as tired as if she was actually mining, standing on her feet for hours had not been kind to her. As she was about to voice her opinion, she heard a ringing from her cube.  
"What's that?" She asked, happy for the reprieve.  
"Oh, that just says you worked for 6 hours. Bear's will ring when he'll do the same."  
"Oh." She answered, and got ready to continue making a hole in the ground for money.  
"You guys hungry by any chance?"  
"Yeah." She answered, and the man nodded.  
"Ok, let's take a break." He pushed a button that she didn't see on her cube on his own, and another ding could be heard. "There, this'll remember how much Bear worked. Now let's get going. I think we'll have to eat on the floor of a room though, I didn't make any dining room. I guess I should." She resisted the urge to either roll her eyes or grunt. Typical. She didn't know it was because he didn't need to eat, drink or sleep.  
"You bring us any food, big guy?" He asked Bear. Bear nodded.  
"Deer. Left it outside in the shade."  
"Good good, could you fetch some for us? Oh, and how much for each meal?"  
"5 creds."  
"Yours included?"  
He nodded. He didn't think it hurt to push his luck.  
"Alright." He put up a credit pad out of his clothes, pushed a few buttons and a caching could be heard from it and Bear's simultaneously. "Paid."  
Bear nodded again and went outside to retrieve part of the deer he had hunted in the morning.  
"Raw or cooked?" She asked. Gem shrugged and went up the stairs. She had to admit to herself, it felt good climbing on something she was part of creating. She looked around and couldn't believe it, they'd been carving a few floors since six hours ago. That was about 15 meters or more, and 9 meters across! It may seem little, but they had burrowed through solid rock over the rocky cliff of a beach, and it looked all so new and clean! The little girl in her that had died down much earlier than she should resurfaced, gushing over their achievements. And this was only the first day! And they'd only worked half of that! How much more could they build? How big could this become? She didn't know, but for the first time in her life, the future looked promising.  
In the end, they decided to use the stairs as improvised chairs and tables.  
"I'll have to make some chairs and tables, and get some supplies from some shop from the port." Gem said mostly to himself. Some time later, Bear came with freshly roasted meat.  
"Mmm, smells delicious." Gem said and Jane couldn't help but agree. It was far different than what she usually ate, and she had only rarely managed to steal some leftovers from anyone rich enough to have actual food. Otherwise, all she could reliably get was calorie paste, that thing SynthFood made. While it kept her alive, it definitely didn't keep her in shape and didn't keep the hunger away as good as real food.  
Gem conceded to make stone plates, and used what appeared to be lasers coming out of the cube to cut the meat into pieces. Was there anything that this cube couldn't make?  
"Oh, about the schedule. We didn't really talk about it, did we?"  
"Guess not." She answered. She supposed he expected her to work all day, or at least as much as he did, and turn in when he did. It was worth it for 500 credits with room and board, especially if the food would be so good every time, or hell, even be real most of the times.  
"Right, well, same deal I gave Bear and I'm gonna give anyone who stays here: either you work 8 hours for 500 credits a month and do what you want after - room and board still included if you're interested - or 14 hours for 1000 credits. Frankly, I need the manpower, I could probably build it myself, but I don't see why I should limit anything. What sounds better?"  
It wasn't like there was anything to do for 8 hours on this ball of water, so the second option sounded a lot better. "I'll take the second. Does that interfere with our other arrangement?" To his credit, Bear didn't bat an eye at the exchange.  
"Well, it's your choice really, though I think you should start searching for contacts tomorrow. But I figure, if you go down there for an hour or less, once in the morning, once in the evening, let's say, it shouldn't interfere with your work schedule. And if you work less... well, the cube will record it and you'll be payed for the hours you worked, or you could work extra to recover the hour. But if you find a good contact with a good deal, that's 100 creds guaranteed, which is just a little more than 14 hours' worth, let alone one lone hour that you may or may not lose. But I'd rather you try to find those people as soon as you can, the sooner you do, the more deals we can make and the more contacts I can make."  
She nodded. There wasn't much to say after that. After her meal, they returned to work, two hours later Bear's timer clicked, and he left without a word. That left 6 hours for her to finish. She had thought about going to town in the evening after she finished, but she simply crashed in her bed tonight. It wasn't tiring per se, and this place seemed to have more oxygen than most of the places she'd been in. 

* * *

In the meanwhile, Gem made himself busy. First, as the evening hit the cliffs, he went down and searched for a fishery, which wasn't hard. He bought half their food supplies to the amazement of the shopkeeper and insisted he didn't need help getting them back. Indeed, he looked like he didn't break a sweat as he carried the cart with the supplies. Taking them to an unwatched part of the city, he snapped his fingers - an old tic from his mortal self - and appeared in a room in his soon to be skyscraper. Another click of his fingers and the supplies were put in a stasis field, never to decay until they were consumed.  
He returned to town and looked for a hardware store, from which he bought some kitchen supplies and a generator. He'd build himself something better once he got his hands on some - for now rare - optronics. He could build himself just about anything with his cube, but he was loathe to waste metals on such things and building items that needed small parts was both bothersome, long and dangerous, as if they would fall into wrong hands, they would bring attention on his enterprises.  
After a few more trips up and down that didn't take him the long 30 minutes they were supposed to for each, he went to Jane's room and the other rooms planned for living quarters and made a stone desk with a chair in each, as well as the obligatory metal doors between the four rooms assigned to each of them.  
As morning approached, he resumed building the stairway.


	5. Chapter 5

Jane woke up early that morning, not that there were any signs of the actual planet time in her mostly empty room. Thankfully, she had gotten used to not run by planet times and just sleep when it was convenient and for how long it felt right. Still, putting a clock on the wall - on any wall in that building - seemed like a good idea to do sooner or later.  
She remembered what else this place didn't have. Just about anything. No shower. No plumbing. No dining room. She got herself up and dressed - change would have been an inappropriate word since she didn't have spare clothes and just didn't wear her usual torn but daily ones to sleep - and finally noticed new additions to the room. She must have been out like a light, she thought, since she hadn't heard him move these stuff. Or he made them through the night with the cube? Preposterous! Even he needed sleep... right? Right.  
A stone desk with a chair greeted her, and as she tested the drawers, she noticed they were actually easy to open and handle. She looked around and noticed a metal door where one hadn't been before going to an adjant room, and, opening it, noted one more door going to another room. She remembered his stitch about the 4 rooms that he'd give tenants, though she couldn't imagine when he had the time or the strength to do this. She couldn't imagine Bear coming in the middle of the night to haul furniture, and especially for herself to not be woken up from this.  
Putting this out of her thoughts, she considered it better just to get out and see what the time was. She trusted herself to coordinate by Manhattan's sun even if she hadn't been long on the planet. As she opened the door to the outside, an... interesting sight greeted her. Gem was engaging some drunkards in conversation. They smelled from a mile away as soon as she left the protectiveness of the building and closed the door, though her subconscious noted that the smell had been mostly dissipated around the building.  
She could hear the guy with the most courage - and a bottle of booze in his hand - speaking.  
"We're here for empol... emplosion... imp... for a job, awright? So you better give us something to do or..."  
She shook her head. She could have handled him alone, but not with a pack at his back. And she doubted Gem had half her skills, the upper class twit that he appeared to be. In fact, she thought for a moment Gem would be trembling in his pants at the sight of the unruly hooligans. To her surprised, he looked as serene as talking to Bear - which she now noted was an apt comparison - as he smiled at them and nodded with no sign of fear or disgust.  
"Of course, of course." He said still smiling, no hint of fakeness on that face. "If you'll follow me to your workplace..."  
A part of the lead drunkard's - Jeff's - mind registered for a moment how strange it was for him to be accepted. He came here not really expecting much, but not willing to kick an opportunity like this. His self-esteem told him he wouldn't make it, so maybe that's why he went to the "interview" after a night of drinking, so he could have something to blame when he'd be thrown out kicking and screaming instead of his own personality traits. For this reason, he looked suspicious at Gem before straightening himself and following him into the building.  
Jane shook her head - it was not really her problem and she didn't want to attract more attention to herself. Hopefully, the drunkard would not rough him up or the place too bad and Gem would still pay her for delivering contracts. If not, she could always ask Gem to pay her for her work so far and she'd just leave. She didn't want this nice dream to end, but if he'd bail at the first crowd of assholes, maybe it deserved to be broken. And anyway, she wouldn't risk, even armed, to be in confined spaces with six drunkards and duke it out for her boss. Gem wasn't paying her nearly enough for that.  
As she made her way down to the inn, both cursing the inclined dirt road and her harder and harsher return, and praying that they'd get that stairway built to inn/sea level already, things were not progressing as she imagined between Gem and his new employees.  
As Jeff stepped through the door, he felt the air sucked out of his lungs and for a moment he suspected the alcohol. But as he straightened himself up, he noted the smell around him and his hangover had disappeared. His mind had cleared, way better than the years after he started drinking that shit, and he felt reinvigorated somehow. What the fuck had just happened? When he looked at his hand, the bottle was also gone.  
As the others that had come with him entered, they sensed and felt the same as him, some appeared mad while others like they were high. What was going on?  
Gem led them to the couches and they sat uneasily, weary of what had just happened.  
"Ah, gentlemen, now that you're in your better minds, shall we discuss about the job? Or have you come simply for the walk?" He said amused.  
"That was you, wasn't it? What the fucked did you do to us?" Asked one of them, the one most prone to anger fits, Jeff remembered. Still, there was an undercurrent of fear in his voice. Still, Jeff noted that the man's personality hadn't changed since he entered the building, so maybe that meant there were no permanent changes.  
"Nothing harmful, do try to relax." He waved his hand. "Now, you came for the job or the rant? And shouldn't you be grateful I'm willing to accept you despite your flaws?" He asked with an honest-looking reaction of mild surprise.  
If entering through that weird field hadn't woken them up, this did. They had almost forgotten why they were here, or that they actually needed the pay. Booze didn't come cheap after all, and they had worked on and off to finance their drinking issues - which apparently disappeared after they entered a building like apparently any other. There was at least one rogue and one outcast between them, though to their collective relief Gem didn't seem to be asking questions and just wanted to hire unskilled folk, like the ad said.  
"Yeah, I'm interested." Said Jeff slowly. "When do we start?"  
Gem put on a warm smile, that somehow didn't convince them of his good intention. "Excellent. Well then, if you will follow me, gentlemen?"  


* * *

It had been an hour well-spent for Jane as she had made her first contract. Some rogue daredevils she didn't know had shot at a wreck in the system and gotten their hands on 20 crates of Cardamine. That was a great haul, though she didn't know how they had landed on the planet and she didn't know if that's what her boss wanted, but it was worth a try. Simply putting them in contact, even if he didn't want the stuff, would net her an easy 100 credits. That is, at least, if he was still well from his encounter with the drunkards. Oh well, it was out of her hands.  
As she returned and went to the stairs, she noted the sight of Bear and Gem which almost put a smile on her face. Then she saw the others, all dilligently working in contrast to their sloppiness only hours ago, except one who seemed to be slacking off, but 5 out of 6 was a miracle by itself. She approached them warily, both of the smell and their attitudes, but to her surprise she encountered none. She looked them up and down, noticing the faint traces of dust, vomit and other bodily fluids were gone from their attires, albeit as ragged as they had come in. Had they been made to wash their clothes? But they didn't look like they'd been manually cleaned, and anyway, most of their bling's embellishments had subsides, which would have taken more than a few hours to thoroughly clean as they were now.  
Chuck one more up to Gem's weirdness, she guessed.  
"Hey." She said. The men looked at her disgruntled that they had worked since morning while she was apparently gallivanting, but didn't say anything in case she had some kind of arrangement with their boss. On this, they were not disappointed.  
"Hey." He said with a warm smile. "Any luck?"  
"Yeah, but we should talk in private." She replied, not dignifying the men's looks. To his further credit, Bear didn't even stop what he was doing once again, though she believed he wasn't ignorant of such things.  
"Ok, sure, let's go to the mess hall."  
She rose an eyebrow at that, some of the men interpreting that as some sort of code. He just smiled and nodded, and she shrugged and went up the stairs. She looked around when she arrived at the cliff level, only to be surprised by a room having a door next to Gem's reading in something-yellow-couldn't-be-gold-could-it plated metal "Mess hall". She opened the door and the same stone refurbishments greeted her, although in this case there was a great table through the middle of the large room (probably tore down that wall and made it a double room) with chairs on each side. There were a dozen in total, it would seem he had prepared for the worker influx quickly.  
She sat on one of the chairs and he sat in front of her. She broke the ice quickly.  
"I found some rogues willing to sell, but..."  
"Yes?"  
"It's cardamine."  
He looked at her and shrugged nonchalantly.  
"They also want best Manhattan price, 1.5k. No negotiations, they say. Take it or leave it."  
He shrugged again. "We'll see when we talk. They got a meeting place set up?"  
"Yeah, want us", by which she meant you, but was glad she didn't say it, she was in this now, "to meet at the forest's border with the cliff's steppe at noon today."  
He nodded and she looked askance at him. "Oh, right." He took his credit computer, keyed a few numbers, and a catching sound was heard from it, and moments later, from hers. She checked it and saw an extra hundred credits in her account.  
"Well, we gotta meet them however it goes and whatever they're willing to sell so I can establish myself and tell them what I'm interested in buying for the future."  
"Ok, then, let's get back to work. You did good, kid."  
And so they returned to the near finished stairway.


End file.
